The BAN!!!

Executive Order 13780 should not be judged based on Candidate Trump's campaign position. As with most past Presidents, what has been campaigned on verses on what they are able to do as president will not be the same. Judge Executive Order 13780 on what it says not on the words spoken by President Trump while campaigning. 

It does not need to be upheld. What is the point of the "ban? To fulfill a campaign promise. By rejecting it based on the statements made by Candidate Trump, you help Trump to proclaim he fulfilled his promise. 

Why a tempory suspension? "... pending a review of our procedures for screening and vetting refugees." But those procedures are reviewable without any temporary suspension. Nothing about this should prevent any review. By now, most reviews should have been completed. Any changes in the screening and vetting process could be implemented, without Executive Order 13780 ever being enacted. 

Not having a suspension simply means some individuals will enter the United States who would not have been allowed entry with a more rigorous procedure for screening and vetting. 

And God forbid a terrorist enters the United States, commits an act of terrorism during the period a suspension would have been in place, makes Trump a hero. Do blame him would be insane. 

Some suggest if Trump would just have kept his mouth shut he would have suceeded in having the executive order carried out. Essentially you;re saying don't be honest. Success comes from lying by ommission. That is not really a good thing. 

Syria

When President Obama first spoke of the red line for Syria, he was hoping to appear tough, but I don't think he was trying to do something courageous. It seems this would have been a no brainier. Any country using chemical weapons against another country or their own people would cause nation after nation to rise up in opposition. And now President Obama who is not crazy enough to do a military action alone without some kind of support of the United Nations, sizable number of countries, or at minimum the United States Congress. (Well actually, it seems he would like more support than just the support of the United States Congress. )

To some extent it seems like he is trying to save face. It is as if he has made a lot of big talk about standing up to the school yard bully. When time to confront the bully, he finds himself to be the only one there, everyone else is on the side of playground watching him, expecting him to do what he had said.

So now he is looking for a way out. With congress less likely to vote for action, he will have a way out, but I hope he does not take the stand of, “Hey I wanted to take action but nobody let me.”

Being a leader does not mean people must follow that just makes you a dictator. But being a leader one must be able to say we are going to go in an indicated direction and convince others to go in the same direction.

Why the lack of support?

War weariness?

The size of an attack would become larger than planned as retaliation has to be dealt with.

Attack on Syria could lead to Syria attacking Israel and now we would have to be with Israel in fighting Syria. This could lead to war with Iran and Russia. Well at least this is what is being suggested as a possible consequences.

Some are concerned that it would not have much effect.

Eliminating Assad may not help since it would not be clear who would take over and who their allies would be.

Some seem to be concerned we are being manipulated into action.

It seems like in countries with dictators, removing them leads to chaos. It's better to have the dictator we know, running a secular government, allowing religious freedom and other freedoms for the people, then have a religious zealous government which will want to attack Israel and restricts much of the freedoms many of the people in that country already experience. This is why the woman talking with John McCain asked we do not do this.

Minimum wage $15/hour

If Fast Food places started to pay workers $15/hr

Prices would go up and quality of the food will go down, It won't be one or the other it would be BOTH.

The number of jobs available will be reduced. This would be done by reducing the number of stores in an area. The store or stores that remain will have more workers to try to handle a higher flow of traffic. They would only keep the best workers. Those who are hired in the future, would need better qualifications than they do now. The high school drop out with no work experience will very likely not get hired. Working at a Taco Bell would only be a dream.

If Minimum wage is increased to $15/hr

This would be raised over a period of years.

A lot more people would be working at minimum wage. A person paid above minimum wage but below $15/hr would slowly find themselves back working at minimum wage. A person making 1.5 times minimum wage, would then make someplace between minimum wage and 1.5 times. Prices will increase.

Changes in Taxes may not occur. If no increase in standard deduction, or a lowering of tax rates occurs, the person who was making minimum wage will pay a higher effective tax rate.

Union wages would go up. In most contracts the union wage is based on minimum wage e.g. 3.2 times minimum wage. As long as prices do not increase too much you will be making more money.

It comes down to this.

 It is not how much money per hour you are making, but how many hours must you work to pay for things.

How many hours will you need to work to pay your Taxes?

How many hours will you need to work to pay for a gallon of milk?

How many hours will you need to work to pay for a pound of hamburger?

How many hours will you need to work to pay for a package of hamburger helper?

How many hours will you need to work to pay for Rent?

How many hours will you need to work to pay for a gallon of gas?

How many hours will you need to work to pay just to see a movie in the theater?

How many hours will you need to work to pay for your electricity?

How many hours will you need to work to pay your cable bill?

IF you work more hours to get these things, then you are getting paid less. The check may look bigger but you are getting paid less.

Syria

So what does President Obama do against Syria?

First it needs to make the case for action. The administration needs to prove chemical weapons were used and that whatever action taken will stop further use of chemical weapons. Of ALL the past Presidents, President Obama is least likely to use military action against anyone. For them to even be talking this is way could only occur if the evidence is strong against Syria. We would need to be able be certain no one used a chemical attack in order to manipulate the United States into taking action agaist the Syrian government.

Will the action stop further use of any weapons of Mass Destruction? Either the weapon would be used against the Syrian people or it will be used against Israel or against a country (or countries) of who lead the military strike against Syria.

Are we willing and able to handle some of the possible reaction of Russia and China? Part of this means being able to cut spending in order to eliminate a deficit. Since China tends to supply us with funds when have a deficit, being able to economically survive with out China's funds will be the only way to handle economic retaliation performed by China.

If No reply occurs we are simply allowing mass murder to continue. When does the United States take action? Sure the libertarian would say no action ever, but so we have moral obligation to help those who could not defend themselves? Even if those who we help may desire themselves to harm us.

It would be interesting

...if the election goes in one of these ways.
Obama wins the electoral college but loses the popular vote. So Obama's last term is like Bush's first term.

or
This is not Obama's last election.
Imagine he loses by a close margin. Say Romney gets 50.1% and Obama gets 49.9% or it would be Romney 49.9% to Obama 49.8% with the remaining 0.3% going to third parties.

As a result there would be a call for Obama to run again in 2016

Election predictions

http://www.ucdenver.edu/about/newsroom/newsreleases/Pages/romney-berry-election.aspx

When did this model get created? All the stories suggest that this was created and used in the past. Now if the model existed prior to the 1980 election and had been used prior to the election of 1980 and each subsequent president election since 1980 then I might give it some credence. If it used past elections to develop the model, then I would expect if it did not give accurate results of the past election it would have been worthless.

If the model was developed recently, then we are begging the question. Since the model would have been developed by analyzing past election results, economic factors and any other factors used. So when you say it is accurate, because of predicting the past elections, which were used to create it in the first place, you are begging the question.

I want more info on this, I would like to know when it was truly first used.

As We Know It

...as we know it.

I hear this once in awhile. Someone will say “Its the end of …as we know it.” What its the end of will vary, but I find my self annoyed by this statement. When used on talk shows, I would like the moderator to ask “So they are going to end 'it'? 'It' won't be there any more?” Because when it's used I don't believe they mean it is going to be eliminated. But I suspect they would like people to believe it is being eliminated. Instead it suggests that 'it' is being changed. But you never have to address the changes if everyone panics at the news of 'it' ending.

If you want to use it, lets talk about the changes being made.